P13-01COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE IMMUNOMODULATORY PROPERTIES OF DIFFERENT CORIOLUS VERSICOLOR-BASED FORMULATIONS ADMINISTERED ORALLY OR TOPICALLY IN THE VAGINA IN HEALTHY MICE.

04. Immunology
J. Gálvez 1, T. Vezza 1, J. Garrido-Mesa 1, A. Rodríguez-Nogales 1, F. Algieri 1, D. Camuesco 1, M.E. Rodríguez-Cabezas 1, J. Cortés 2, D. Dexeus 3.
1CIBER-EHD, Department of Pharmacology, ibs.GRANADA, Center for Biomedical Research (CIBM), University of Granada, Granada, (Spain), 2Senior Consultant on Gynecologic Oncology. Former President of the Spanish Association of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, Palma de Mallorca, (Spain), 3Gynecology and Obstetrics Department, SOMDEX-Clínica Tres Torres, Barcelona, (Spain)

Background / Objectives

Preclinical study to compare the modulation of the immune response of vaginal administration of a Coriolus versicolor-based gel formulation (Palomacare®) in healthy mice with another gel containing only 5% Coriolus versicolor (CV5%) and Coriolus versicolor extract (CVext) administered orally. 

 


Methods

Female CBA/J (J-2α) mice (8 to 10 weeks of age) were daily inoculated in the vagina with 50 μl of Palomacare® (L-1505) or CV5% (P-7449), or orally administered a CVext (500 mg/kg) (n=14). A control group (n=8) was inoculated with saline solution. Half of the mice were sacrificed at day 6, and the rest at day 10. The vagina was excised, weighed and two samples were obtained. One sample was stored in RNAlater and processed for RNA extraction and the expression of different cytokines (TNFα, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-17, IL-13 and IFN-α) was evaluated by real time RT-qPCR. The other tissue sample (2 mg) was cultured for 24 h at 37°C in a 5% CO2 atmosphere; then, the culture media was collected, centrifuged and stored at -80°C. Cytokine analysis could be performed in this sample.


Results

IFN-α and IL-13 were not modified by any treatment (the expression of IL-13 was under the limit of detection). At day 10 we observed that all the treatments significantly up-regulated the gene expression of most of the other cytokines tested (p<0.05), except for IL-6 that was only increased by CV5% gel. No significant differences were observed when the treated groups were compared. At day 6, Palomacare® already managed to increase the expression of most of the cytokines tested except for IL-6 and IL-17. CV5% gel only increased TNFα and IL-1α expression, whereas oral treatment with CVext did not induce any cytokine modifications.

 


Conclusion

Palomacare® gel managed to activate the vaginal immune response faster than the oral administration of CVext. Both preparations (oral and vaginal) have demonstrated to equally increase significantly the immune response vs control group at 10 days.  Additional experiments should be conducted to further investigate their potential use in the prevention and/or treatment of genital tract infections. 


References